Improvement in chairs for railroad cars



WILLIAM PALMER. Impj rbvement in Chairs for Railroad Cars.

Patented May 30, i871.

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM PALMER, on NEW YORK, N. Y.

' IMPROVEM'ENTIN CHAIRSFOR RAILROAD CARS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 115,510, dated May 30, 1871.

To all whom it may concerns Be it known that I, WILLIAM PALMER, of

the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Chairs for Railroad Oars, &c.; and

the following is hereby declared to be a full and correct description of the same.

My invention is made with special reference to the" construction of ;a chair for railroad cars, so that it can be used as an ordinary seat or chair, oras a reclining-chair, to take 1 I the place of the berths now used in sleepingcars; but said chair is also adapted for house- 4 hold, dentists, andbarbers use.

Reclining-seats with swinging foot-rests have been made, and chairs set upon columns have been reversible, so as to be adapted to railroad cars.

My invention consists of a chair mounted on a column, with divided racks for the pawl that is connected with the swinging foot-rest, so that the said restcan be supported when the seat is turned around to face in either direction. I also make use of a movable cushion'board that may bereversed to incline the seat.

In the drawing, Figure 1 is an elevation of said chair with the seat, back, and foot-rest in section; and Fig. 2 is an elevation of the rear of the chair. chair.

a represents the base, to be securely bolted or fastened to the floor of the car, and said base is provided with a hole to receive, the pivot 12 of the column 0, which column is se- Fig. 3 is a plan of said cured to the under side of the seat d. The 1 upper end of the base a and lower end of the column 0 are suffi'ciently broad to form a firm bearing for the seat that is attached to the column a; and to prevent said seat turning accidentally a lugors'top, e, upon the base of the columns is made use of to enter one of the notches ff upon opposite sides of the upwhich pass in between the two-part arms Z l,

and are provided withslots and notches, as

at m, to take over pins passing through the said two-part chair-arms and hold the back at the desired inclination. The downward .projections at 3 allow of the links being lifted to change the inclination of the back. n is the head-rest, sustained by the pawl 0 and rack by the slide-bars q g, which enter sockets 4: upon the back h. The guide-bars q q and pawl 0 and rack allow the head-rest to be raised or lowered to suit the occupant of the chair, and the cushion or piece of upholstery that may be placed at the back of the chair may extend over the space between the rest n and back h, when the two are separated to lengthen the back of the chair, and be partially supported by the bars q q. The sockets 4 and bars q are to be half-round, so as not to present sharp angles to the occupant of the next seat when entering or leaving such seat. The teeth of the rack 10 should be under-cut, as shown in Fig. 1, so that the pawl cannot fallout of the rack by its own weight or by the weight of the person in the chair when position. 8 is the foot-rest, hinged at t to the under side of the seat d, and adjusted and sustained by the pawl 14 and racks c v and w. The racks 'v o are upon opposite sides of the base a, and the rack to upon the column'c, so that in either position of the chair one of the racks '0 will coincide with the rack w and afford a lengthof rack necessary for the adjustment of the foot-rest. I prefer to construct the racks in this manner, as being the strongest; but a single rack might be used, attached to the under side of the seat. A cord, '0, may beefnployed to lift the pawl u and facilitate theadjustment of the rest. The chair may be upholstered in any suitable manner. seat is made with a cushion-board, (1', upon which are projecting pins 5 5enterin g holes 6 6 in the seat-frame or bottom 01.

When it is desired to elevate the front edge of the seat-cushion the cushion and board d are lifted and reversed, so that the pins resting upon the seat-frame or bottom d will raise up the front edge of the cushion, as seen by more comfortable when the back of the chair is inclined.

I do not claim a revolving seat upon a colp, and guided and kept in its proper position the back is inclined or in nearly a horizontal The dotted lines in Fig, 1, and render the same nmn provided with a clutch; nor'a movable 6 6 in the seat (I, as and for the purposes set section at the upper part of the chair-back; forth. nor notched links between the back and the Signed by me this 20th day of March, A.

arm-piece. D. 1871..

I claim as my invention- 1. The divided rack v w upon the base a and column 0, in combination with the hinged foot-rest and pawl u, as set forth.

2. The cushion-board d, pins 5 5, and holes.

WM PALMER.

Witnesses GHAs. H. SMITH, GEO. T. PINCKN'EY. 

